InsiderOnline Blog: April 2014

Nancy Pelosi’s idea was that you pass laws so that you find out what’s in them. Even that scheme seems a little orderly compared to how the State of Iowa does things. Paul Brennan reports:

In 2008, the Legislature passed a bill that accidentally included language repealing the section of the tax code that imposed a sales tax on heavy machinery purchased in the state. No one noticed until last summer, when a lawyer contacted the Iowa Department of Revenue seeking clarification about the tax.

Faced with the possibility of having to refund more than $20 million collected for a nonexistent tax, not to mention losing an estimated $7 million in taxes a year going forward, lawmakers passed a bill Thursday reinstating the tax and making it retroactive to the date of its accidental repeal.